AKOGARE
by Unmei Hime
Summary: [RyoSaku] Realizations hit you hard when you least expect them. Echizen Ryoma's life would never be the same again after her confession...
1. Letter

**AKOGARE**

**by**

**Unmei Hime**

Disclaimer: I do not own Tennis No Ohjisama

**Part 1: Letter**

* * *

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_Dear Ryuuzaki-san,_

_May I ask if you could meet me at the rooftop this afternoon after school?_

_I have something to tell you._

_Please come._

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"Okay class dismiss."

Soon after the teacher said the long-awaited words, she heard herself breathe a sigh of relief. The subject was Trigonometry, the most boring yet most difficult subject in junior high, in her opinion at least. She was never a Math person and it made her wonder how she could use Trigonometry in real life.

_The Greeks invented Trigonometry to make students suffer,_ she inwardly whined.

She gathered her things and stood up. She sighed again and felt the folded paper in her pocket. _I wonder who left this letter in my shoe locker._ She found the piece of paper this morning when she arrived in school and it made her puzzled the entire day. _Who could it be and why?_

She considered telling Tomoka but later decided against it. Tomoka would only make a big fuss out of it and before the end of the day she would have asked every person in the entire class, she was sure. _Better keep it to myself for now. _

In a matter of minutes, she reached the rooftop. She didn't know why but she was nervous.

Heaving a deep breath, she opened the door and found a boy whose back was on her. When he finally turned around, she found herself looking at a face she had seen so many times.

Round eyes, short straight hair, small nose. Small frame. His height too short for a junior high student. He wasn't even the same height as her.

Katou Kachiro.

She couldn't help the pang of disappointment that she felt after the realization. She should have known. _Who am I expecting? Ryoma-kun wouldn't do such a thing. I'm such a fool. _

"Ryuuzaki-san. You came... Thank you." She heard the boy say.

"Katou-kun, why did you ask me to come here?"

"I---I..." The boy fidgeted, looked at her then looked down then looked at her again. A faint blush stained his cheeks. She could see that he was trying his best to say the words but failing miserably. _He reminds me of myself whenever I'm in front of Ryoma-kun._ She thought.

"What is it?" She asked softly.

"I---I like you." He confessed, his eyes finally meeting hers.

She didn't know what to say. Yes, she was surprised. It was her first time to hear such words from a boy. "T-thank you. But—".

"But you don't like me." Kachiro finished, a look of sadness in his eyes.

Sakuno shook her head. "No, it's not like that, Katou-kun."

"I know you like somebody else." The boy looked down in defeat. "And I know I can never beat him, one way or another."

"Katou-kun..."

"But all I want is to tell you my feelings. I'm not asking you to like me back. I can never do that."

Sakuno reached for his hands. She didn't want to hurt him but he was hurt all the same. "I'm pleased that you like me. Really I am."

"You're a special girl, Ryuuzaki-san. I just hope he could see that." He smiled sadly.

She let go of his hands and walked toward the railings. She didn't want Katou-kun to see the tears that were starting to fill her eyes. "Ryoma-kun will never notice me. His world revolves around tennis." Her voice was quiet but her face revealed the feelings that she was keeping inside. No, she didn't want anybody to see that. "But I'm glad just to be with him. Just to watch him. Just to talk to him. It's enough for me that I could see him even though I could never touch him. "

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned around and smiled bitterly. "There's nothing I can do about it, is there? Ryoma-kun is someone who's out of my league. I knew it since the first time we met."

Kachiro smiled back, though it didn't reach his eyes. "We're two brokenhearted people. Why don't we indulge in ice cream to forget our heartaches? My treat, what do you say?" _She's really amazing. And you're the biggest fool on earth not to know that Ryoma-kun. _

Katou Kachiro was dead wrong.

They didn't know that there were two other persons who had fully heard their conversation, every detail of it.

* * *

"Echizen, what are you thinking?" Momoshiro noticed that since they left the rooftop landing, Echizen hadn't spoken a single word.

"Nothing in particular." The boy said without even a sideward glance. He was looking on ahead as if too impatient to get home.

"I know something is running inside that head of yours," Momoshiro pressed on though he knew he was treading on dangerous ground. He wanted to confirm something and he would do just that.

"I'm not thinking of anything." Echizen said coolly.

Momoshiro Takeshi was not someone who would give up that easily. "You know, you cannot fool me." He studied the face partly hidden under that white baseball cap. His expression was blank, no emotion whatsoever. He sighed. The boy was too nonchalant for his own good.

Echizen finally regarded him a glance. "See you tomorrow at practice, Momo-senpai." Echizen walked on and turned the corner before Momoshiro could stop him.

"Oi, Echizen!" Momoshiro knew then his attempts were futile. But he promised he would get it out of Echizen whatever it would take.

* * *

"_I'm glad just to be with him. Just to watch him. Just to talk to him. It's enough for me that I could see him even though I could never touch him. "_

The words kept ringing on his ears like a broken record. No matter how hard he pressed his ears or face against the pillow, it was of no use.

Damn it. How could she say that? What did she mean?

And why in the world was he thinking of her for hours now? Why in the world did she accept that Kachiro's invitation to have ice cream? Didn't she see he was taking advantage?

"Yaro--." He said through clenched teeth and rolled over for the nth time, not knowing in particular what he was angry about.

Echizen Ryoma would soon learn that there were things much dreadful than Inui's specially mixed juices and things much harder to understand than Fuji's weird interests (drinking Inui's juices in particular).

His life would never be the same again.

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a/n: Your thoughts would be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading!


	2. Confession

**AKOGARE**

**Part 2: Confession**

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Echizen Nanjirou knew from the moment he saw Ryoma's face that morning that something wasn't right. Baka oyaji as he might seem to be, truth was, he was concerned with his son's welfare. He always was. He just hid it with foolish remarks and actions that most of the time irritated his son. Receiving death glares from Ryoma was an everyday happening. And it was fun actually to tease him around.

But this morning was different. Ryoma seemed different. Judging by the black clouds under his eyes, the boy wasn't able to sleep the whole night.

"Oi, seishounen. Didn't you sleep last night?" He asked. They were sitting face to face on the dining table, eating breakfast.

There was no reply. The boy just continued eating his toast as if he didn't hear him.

Nanjirou smiled mischievously. "Ha-hmmm. What is it? Did you just confess to a girl your undying feelings and she rejected you?"

The boy gave him a hostile glare. Now, that was a better reaction. His face broke into a wider grin. He continued on. "Oh? Am I right?"

"Don't start with me, oyaji."

Nanjirou felt the underlying tension with that retort and it made him stop. He just looked at him with searching eyes.

_Definitely, something is not right._

* * *

Ryoma reached school without really thinking about it. He merely walked on and was even surprised when he already found himself at the school entrance. He was acting weird, he knew. But why, he wasn't really sure.

When he opened his shoe locker, something bright pink caught his eyes. Picking it up, he already knew what it was. Another fan mail. He'd been receiving quite a number of those petty fan mails these days, well, ever since Seigaku won the Kanto tennis competition, fan mails became a usual thing for him, actually for the other Seigaku regulars too. _Popularity and its ramifications. _He sighed.

Quickly scanning the piece of paper, he read the words "admire", "cute", "handsome" a number of times. Boring, he figured within five seconds and was about to toss it to the waste bin when the initials at the end of the letter caught him off guard.

R.S.

_Ryuuzaki Sakuno? _Ryoma shook his head. That Ryuuzaki wouldn't have the guts. Definitely not her.

But...what if she did?

The thought bothered him. Though it was profoundly disturbing than Ryoma would like to admit, it just didn't seem to...fit.

There was just one way to find out.

* * *

Sakuno smiled to herself. It was her favorite time of the day. The time she kept to herself to do her one favorite hobby.

She looked around and let out a contented sigh. She was sitting leisurely on one of the benches in the school grounds. Yellow and red Momiji leaves were falling from the trees nearby, gently swaying with the cool autumn breeze.

_Such a picture perfect sight_. She thought. Autumn had always been her favorite season of the year. It seemed to her that her surroundings had a more vivid color with all the trees in different shades of red, yellow and brown. The ground under her feet felt like a soft carpet with the thick layers of leaves that had fallen from the trees. She just loved it.

Closing her eyes, she filled her lungs with a fresh breath of air_. I wish Ryoma-kun is sitting beside me enjoying this time. _

"What are you doing?"

Sakuno's eyes quickly fluttered open and found curious golden brown eyes peering down at her. She almost let out a shriek in total surprise. _Be careful with what you wish for, it might just come true._ The thought of her grandmother's advice flashed through her mind.

"R-ryoma kun." She named the sudden intruder with a meek voice.

He was staring into her eyes. "You didn't answer me."

Sakuno fumbled helplessly for words. "I-I was doing some sketching."

There she went again, always seeming so utterly dull in front of him.

"Hn. May I see it?" He asked, his eyes gesturing to the sketchbook which laid open on her lap. The forgotten sketchbook suddenly made Sakuno wish she could sink into the ground.

There neatly drawn on paper was Ryoma in one of his tennis moves. He was about to swing his racket towards the ball and the intensity of his concentration to strike it was perfectly captured by her well defined pencil strokes.

Cheeks burning red with embarrassment, she hurriedly closed her sketchbook and stood up. "No, I-I'm sorry Ryoma-kun. This...is something personal. "She said with a desperate tone in her voice.

She would never let Ryoma get his hand on her sketchbook. No, never. Not in a million years. Why? Because she had ten other drawings of Ryoma sleeping, eating, drinking his favorite Ponta and others of him having various facial expressions! No, she would definitely not let him see those. She would rather die than suffer the humiliation of him regarding her as another one of his obsessed fans.

"Okay."The boy just gave her a nod and a blank expression on his face.

Typical Ryoma. He never spared a single thought to things that didn't interest him. For once, she was thankful he was like that.

"I'm going Ryoma-kun. I remembered I need to borrow a book from the library." The excuse sounded lame even to her ears. But she needed it. Danger signs were flashing before her eyes. Why couldn't she be more careful? She was about to go when she heard his voice.

"Ano sa Ryuuzaki." Looking up, she saw him lower his cap to his eyes.

"Y-yes. Ryoma-kun?" She asked shakily and waited for what he would say.

"You left a note in my shoe locker this morning. Why?"

Sakuno's mind went blank. For a moment there, she stood unmoving, unable to even breathe. "W-what?" She said in silent shock.

"Figures." She heard him say gruffly.

Sakuno didn't understand what was happening. In a desperate attempt to soothe her rising panic, she started to walk away from him and take refuge to anywhere not within five meters near him. But his next words rooted her feet to the ground.

"Ryuuzaki. Do... you like me?"

Ryuuzaki Sakuno wanted to die right there and then.

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A/n: Thanks so much to those who reviewed the first chap. Hope you enjoyed reading this part ;P


	3. One Hell of a Headache

**Chapter 3: One Hell of a Headache**

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--

Sakuno exhaled a deep breath. She was seeing white patches before her eyes. Her heartbeat was beyond normal. How did it turn out like this?

She needed to calm down.

A sudden movement from behind her almost made her jump in total surprise. In a blink of an eye, the boy she most wanted to run away from was standing in front of her, having his signature calm expression and nonchalant gaze focused on her.

She heard him sigh as if she was boring him to death. But tried as she might she couldn't will herself to look in his eyes.

"Ryuuzaki. It's just a simple yes or no."

A moment's silence hung between them.

Voice trembling, she finally gathered her courage to speak. "Ryoma-kun…I'm sorry….No…There's someone…else I like…"

That was all she could say. She knew it was the biggest lie of all. But she wouldn't be able to take the humiliation if she ever confessed her true feelings. Most of all, she was scared of his rejection, of the cold words that would come from him to turn her down. No matter how hard she hoped for it, Echizen Ryoma would never return her feelings. His world consisted of tennis and tennis alone. She was content just watching him from the sidelines reach for his dreams.　The last thing that she wanted was to cause him trouble.

It would be better this way.

* * *

--

Damn. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she look him in the eyes? Was his face that horrible that she couldn't afford to even give him a single glance?

But more important than that, did he hear her right? She didn't like him? She liked somebody else?

Yeah, right. Like hell, that would happen.

Damn. He was sure that was next to impossible.

She was lying. Definitely.

Absolutely. There was no way…

But what if she wasn't?

What if it was just his overblown ego working overtime to tell him he was the one she wanted?

But what about her actions that clearly showed she fancied him like the two occasions she jumped unprecedentedly inside the court in the middle of the game when he got injured? That when he even snapped at her, she stubbornly wanted to treat him? And what about those bentos that she made? Surely those were for him right?

Crap. He wasn't sure at all.

And who was the damned guy? Katou? No, that would be silly. She just rejected him. One of the sempais? Might be Fuji-sempai? Or Buchou?

Why did he even care? His head was spinning. He didn't understand her at all. And he didn't understand himself any better.

"Is that so?" His voice was colder than usual. His eyes bored into her face, lingering on her full pink lips. Would it be soft and tasty as they seemed?

As if his hands gotten a life of their own, they reached in front of him and touched the sides of the girl's face. He heard her gasp but like he was lost in a trance, he pulled her toward him and without another thought, he claimed her lips as if it was all that mattered.

He wanted to make sure that he was the one she liked. Only him and no one else.

Like hell he'd give her to anyone.

Much to his complete surprise, she tasted deliciously sweet and awfully nice like he'd never imagined a girl's lips would taste like. Well, it wasn't like he'd kissed other girls before. But somehow, he was undoubtedly sure that hers was the sweetest kind, not to mention the softest of them all. It made him want to kiss her even more and explore any other qualities hidden inside her little mouth. Then and there, he wanted to eat her alive.

Seriously, he'd never thought that he had this perverted side all along. His baka oyaji would surely have a hard time laughing at him when he knew about this. And his sempais especially that Inui-sempai would certainly regard this as one of his new found weakness and Momo-sempai and Kikumaru-sempai would tease him for the rest of his life.

Who would blame them when they knew that the cool and calm Echizen Ryoma lost himself while kissing the coach's granddaughter?

Whatever. Like he'd care what they'd thought.

They could laugh all they want, tease all they want, he'd ignore them all.

Only one thing mattered to him now.

Ryuuzaki Sakuno.

* * *

--

_Slap._

That movement sent him spiraling back to his senses.

What happened?

He was just kissing her senseless a minute ago, and now her hand left a stinging pain on his left cheek.

When he looked at her, he saw the anger and confusion written all over her face.

Still unable to understand what was wrong with her, he tried to touch her arm but she quickly moved away from him.

"What the…" He couldn't believe she just dodged him after that mind numbing kiss. More so, what was that slap earlier all about? Didn't she like it? Hell, it was his first kiss and no doubt so was hers, she couldn't expect any better than that. Even he himself was amazed at his kissing skills. What could possibly make her mad?

Her trembling voice floated into the air between them and he found himself staring into her deep chocolate brown eyes. "Don't touch me please. I'm not your plaything Ryoma-kun." With that, she ran away to whoever knew where and left him immobilized for a good ten minutes.

He finally understood.

Ryuuzaki Sakuno was one hell of a slow girl.

Ugh. This would be such a pain.

But, he always loved challenges.

And he promised, he would get her no matter how painfully slow and naïve she might be.

Heh. Ryuuzaki Sakuno better be prepared.

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a/n: Really sorry for the long wait. Finally, I've had the time to update this one. Although, this would still take a couple of chapters, bear with me please! I'm really trying my best to update quickly. Just that the muse is sometimes hard to come by. So there, thanks fo reading and again, please give me your thoughts about it! )

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